


this sunset town

by littleghost



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Happy Ending, Multi, Post-Kingdom Hearts III, post canon where they still have to go back to high school which is mentioned like twice in here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-18
Updated: 2019-06-18
Packaged: 2020-05-14 11:27:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19272334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littleghost/pseuds/littleghost
Summary: After it all, she has to go back to school. But the idea of staying on Destiny Islands, where she sees Sora on every street corner, is too much to bear. And while Radiant Garden may be her home, she feels adrift in the place where she was supposedly a princess. Twilight Town may be no better, with Roxas as a painful reminder of the best friend she lost, but she feels better there. Like maybe everything isn’t over, yet.





	this sunset town

The sound of wheels on the brick walkway is Kairi’s first hint of who’s about to interrupt her peaceful lunch. The second is the sound of familiar laughter, which makes her smile as she sets down her sandwich. She turns to look and, sure enough, Roxas is boarding down the walkway, with Hayner, Pence and Olette running after him.

“Hey,” he says, breathless, as he drops down beside her. “Missed you in homeroom.”

She’d been late that morning, because insomnia doesn’t wait for any high schooler with an early alarm. She woke up an hour late, and heavily debated the merits of pretending to be sick or actually attending school.

“Sorry,” she says.

But Roxas grins at her, quick and easy in a way that is so familiar it _hurts_. “Nah, it’s fine.”

By that time, the other three catch up, and Hayner flicks Roxas’s ear for leaving them behind. Everyone laughs at his affronted expression, and Olette sits on Kairi’s other side. She has her own lunch, a ham sandwich to Kairi’s turkey.

“I like your dress,” Olette tells her.

Kairi looks down, seeing the blue dress she pulled off the hanger without really looking. It was clean and it fit, and that’s all that mattered to her. But she blushes slightly at Olette’s compliment, ducking her head. “Thanks. Is that a new shirt?”

“Yeah! My sister got it for me the other day as a late Christmas present.” The gray band shirt went well with her red flannel and ripped jeans. Kairi wishes she had more clothes like Olette, something more fun than her matching outfits. But a lifetime of having to be proper—for Radiant Garden, for being the mayor’s daughter—has left her with a boring wardrobe.

“It’s cute,” Kairi says. “Very you.” Whether she means the shirt is the type Olette would wear or Olette is cute, even Kairi doesn’t know. It’s not something she’s let herself think about much.

The boys start talking about a game on their phones, and Kairi returns to her lunch. She was reading a book—required reading for school, with a quiz the next period—but she sets it aside. The day is too nice to think about reading. It’s easy to fold herself into the familiarity of her friend’s laughter, the warmth of the sun, the unique smell of Twilight Town. It’s different from Destiny Islands in a way she’s thankful for, in a way that doesn’t hurt.

But it’s hard to ignore that hurt when your best friend’s twin is sitting with you. “Did you do the math, Kairi?” Roxas asks. The question is so familiar, that her response comes out without her really meaning to say it.

“As always, Sor—oh.” She has to blink down tears suddenly. Looking up, she sees a familiar look of pity and pain on Roxas’s face. He doesn’t like being reminded of it either, how he and Sora look the same and sometimes act the same. It’s painful for both of them, but Kairi doesn’t think he gets it on the same level as her.

“I’m sorry,” she says in a rush. She grabs the math homework out of her back and packs everything else up quickly. Half-eaten sandwich stuffed back in her bag, the unopened juice saved for later, the book haphazardly shoved in with all her other books, unworried if the pages crinkle. “Here you go.”

Kairi gives him the homework and takes off, heart hammering in her chest.

It isn’t fair to either of them, she _knows_ that. But she also knows that Sora is something like dead, and there’s nothing she can do for a boy who’s already defied death once. She wouldn’t know where to start.

A hand grabs her wrist, and Kairi lets the person stop her. It’s Olette, who’s always the one to run after her in these situations. Roxas is easily out of the question, Hayner “doesn’t know how to deal with feelings,” and Pence helps, but not as much as Olette does.

“Are you okay, Kai?” She’s the only one that uses that nickname, too. It’s different enough from how Sora says—said it.

Everything is different when Olette does it.

“No,” Kairi says truthfully. She keeps her composure, but Olette must see something in her face, because she steps closer.

“Let’s go to English,” she says, instead of anything else, and Kairi loves her for that. Clinging to normality is the only thing she can do in times like these. “And tell me about the chapters we were supposed to read on the way there.”

Kairi laughs, because Olette doesn’t need the recap, but it’s a nice distraction.

 

Riku calls her once a week. She demanded it, when she first moved to Twilight Town and she saw the pain in his eyes. Because Riku would never give up on his best friend, unlike her. He would chastise her if he ever heard her say it, but Kairi feels horrible when she remembers Riku is out there, searching for Sora, while she sits in a borrowed bed and does math homework.

“This is better for you,” Riku had told her. They were standing in front of Scrooge’s house, who kindly allowed Kairi to stay with him. “You need normalcy. You’re the one that was dead.”

It wasn’t a funny joke, but she had laughed anyways. And she laughed until it turned into sobs, and Riku wrapped his arms around her. She cried until she fell asleep, and she woke up in her bed.

Riku was long gone.

The familiar sound of the Gummiphone jerks her awake. She’d been dozing, but the clock on the nightstand tells her she should have been asleep anyways. When she answers the phone, Riku’s exhausted face fills the screen. The bags under his eyes are worse, and her heart clenches at the sight. He’s running himself ragged, and she can’t even go out there and nag him about taking care of himself.

She can’t tell him that Sora would want him to live his life, because she can’t even live by those words herself.

“Hey,” he says, voice hushed. “Did I wake up you?”

“Not really.” She shrugs. “How are you?”

He gives her a small smile, but they both know it’s for show. “I’m alright. I’m in Mulan’s world, and it’s snowing pretty hard in China.” The camera shifts, and she sees snow falling onto the already-white ground. It looks peaceful.

“Make a snowman for me,” she requests, and he laughs, agreeing. They fall silent, because neither of them ever know what to say to each other. Being able to hear Riku’s breathing is enough for her, though.

“Tell me about school,” Riku asks after a few moments of just their breathing. “Pence keeps sending me videos of you guys in class.”

Kairi laughs, because she knows what videos are being sent. Hayner sticking notes to Roxas’s back, Roxas fighting Hayner in the halls, Olette riding a skateboard through the halls, Kairi doing miniscule magic to turn the fire alarms on to avoid a quiz. So she talks, because she’s good at that. Riku listens, because he’s good at that.

And when she runs out of things to say, he’ll talk too. He’ll talk about the worlds he’s visited, some with Sora, some without. He’ll explain them and the conflicts within, and Kairi will soak it all up. She won’t ever go out there again, she knows. Not unless a miracle happens.

Eventually, she’ll fall asleep while Riku talks about the heat of Deep Jungle and vines that he could swing across. He’ll hang up when her breathing evens out, and in the morning, she’ll wake up to a picture of a snowman. One with blue stones for eyes and a crude crown drawn into its chest.

She’ll save the photo, even if it hurts.

 

“You cannot call the Keyblade?” Master Yen Sid is surprised.

“No,” Kairi admits. She won’t meet his gaze, or anyone else’s. “I can only do small magic, too.” A tiny spark appears in the palm of her hand, but it is quickly snuffed out.

“Hmm,” the wizard says. He stares at her, and she squirms under his gaze. “I don’t think you have lost the ability,” he says finally.

Kairi frowns, finally looking at him. “What do you mean?” She’s tried, day after day, trying to summon it into her hand, but it never comes. She just feels emptiness inside her.

“The power of the Keyblade is not something one loses,” Yen Sid says. “Much like different worlds or hearts, the power can fall asleep. I’m not surprised it has happened to you.”

“Will she get it back?” Riku steps forward, putting him beside her shoulder. His hand brushes against hers, and she’s thankful for that reminder.

Yen Sid nods. “In time, perhaps.” He waves a hand, and a book appears in front of him, floating towards Kairi. “In that book are accounts of Wielders who have had similar problems to you. May it aid you.”

She grabs the massive tome. It is heavy in her hands, smelling of old paper and dust. She nods, saying she’ll look into it, but she knows she won’t. Riku knows, and so does Yen Sid. They all know why she can’t summon the blade, what block keeps her from protecting herself.

The missing member of their trio, the one who said his friends were his strength. The same went for Kairi, except she falls apart where he only grew stronger.

 

Olette is painting her nails. She doesn’t have many colors available, and Kairi chose black because she liked how it looked on the brunette. She wanted them to match. Olette’s hands are soft as she gently holds Kairi’s fingers and focuses on not getting the varnish everywhere.

“What’s the beach like?” Olette asks her. Kairi jerks her head up, but she’s paying attention to painting nails. “Me, Hayner and Pence, we all try to go but we never can get enough money. Our parents won’t take us either.”

“It’s… nice,” Kairi starts, searching for the right words. How does she explain the feeling of looking at water that goes on for forever, how the sand burns the soles of feet but the water soothes the sting, how the sun beats down but no one cares about burnt skin. How does she explain the feeling of being somewhere she can’t stand? “The sand’s always too hot and gets everywhere, but the water is always nice. We always had calm waters, except on the other side of the island where there’s a cliff.”

That cliff was the cause of many of their childhood scars. Sora and Riku have matching ones, an ugly cut across their backs from falling onto rocks. Kairi got a broken arm from jumping in the shallows and couldn’t play with her friends for weeks. It’s where the waves are the biggest, where Sora’s mom taught them how to surf. She misses it.

“We should go,” Olette suggests. She ignores the way Kairi’s hands tremble in her own, but they both know it’s happening. “The two of us, though. It’d be cheaper that way.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Kairi says, but the idea makes her cheeks warm. Going to the beach with Olette wouldn’t be so bad, maybe. She breathes deeply, and plasters on a smile. It doesn’t feel as fake as it has recently. “Let me do your nails.”

Olette hands her the bottle and her hands, and Kairi holds them with the same gentleness she was given.

 

“It’s like if you were in a bad car accident,” Riku says. She doesn’t quite know what a car is yet, but she knows they’re kind of like electric versions of bikes. “It’s gonna take you awhile to want to do the thing that hurt you.”

She frowns at her hands. “But that part never bothered anyone else.” Everyone she knows has been hurt as much as she has, yet they still fight on. She’s just _weak_ , giving up on everything because she died and Sora died for her.

“None of us have actually _died,_ Kairi,” Riku says. He places his hands on her shoulders, and she reluctantly meets his eyes. “No one knows what you’re going through. It’s okay to take things at a slower pace than us.”

“But I need to—”

He cuts her off. “You don’t need to do anything. You need to regain your strength, and you need to be happy again. It’s what he would want.”

She’s silent for a few moments. Her hands come up to cover his and she says softly, “He would want that for you, too.”

She won’t forget the way his face crumples, how he pulled her to his chest with trembling hands. He buries his face in her hair, and she pretends she doesn’t hear the sobs. Kairi presses her ear against his chest and hears his beating heart, still going.

 

Hayner and Roxas face off in the sandlot, holding on to their bats. Pence has alternating cheers for both of them, and so does Olette. Kairi yells out encouraging words every now and then, but usually when Roxas manages to knock the velcroed bags off Hayner’s practice suit. She doesn’t really get the point of struggle, but it’s fun to watch.

“Stop running away!” Hayner yells, launching himself across the court at Roxas. There’s a moment full of commotion, and Roxas steps back to reveal Hayner with all but one bag stuck to his bicep.

“Give up yet?” he crows, bat held loosely in his hand. Hayner gives him a quick grin and rushes him again, but the outcome is different this time. He dances back, having freed Roxas of all but one “orb” as well.

“How about you?”

Roxas is the winner in the end, to no one’s surprise. They collapse against each other in the ring, while Pence runs up to talk about strategies and weak points. A local tournament is coming up in a few weeks, and they want to be prepared.

“Who even came up with this game?” Kairi huffs, leaning back on the stands. It’s getting darker now, that eternal sunset giving way to this world’s idea of nighttime. Soon, the sun will duck below the horizon but the sky will still be streaked with orange.

“We grew up with it,” Olette tells her. “It was always a game at school, but the first tournament was held when we were in middle school. Hayner won, of course.” She laughs, and Kairi joins her.

Looking at the two boys sitting on the ground, she can almost see two other boys in their places. Both as competitive, but different. She blinks away the thought. It’s not fair to Roxas, for her to keep doing this.

“It’s still weird,” she decides, and Olette laughs again.

She grins at Kairi, quick and easy, and something blossoms in the redhead’s chest. “Yeah, probably.” Kairi wonders if she’s allowed to feel like this, to have this. Olette’s smile is bright as the sun and her eyes gleam gold in the dusk, and Kairi _wants_.

 

He found her through his heart. Sora was always like that, making connections and using them, pulling on the strings until he finds what he wants. He always knew how to make her parents agree to him, or how to bring Riku out of his moods, or how to make teachers let him off for sleeping in class. Sora was so _much_ that no one really knew what to do with him.

Kairi doesn’t really know what he did. She had been floating, lost and trying to remember, when he appeared. She didn’t know who he was at first, but his heart knew her. He saved her heart and her body, and she found herself back home, clutching a Heartbinder.

Riku was the one who found her, because that Heartbinder was for him, after all.

She won’t forget the way he looked so full of hope when he saw her, the way that looks disappeared when he realized Sora wasn’t there. She won’t forget the emptiness in her chest, the way she mourned over a death everyone had weeks to grieve through. Riku was there the entire time, because his grief is everlasting. He won’t get over Sora.

She can’t either.

 

Aqua is gorgeous. Kairi realized this when she first met the woman, but in the twilight, her beauty is outstanding. It’s hard to look at the way her blue hair shines, or the way her eyes glint. She doesn’t even have to squint, unlike Terra behind her.

“Aqua!” Kairi enthuses, because she’s always happy to see her. She was the one that helped Kairi’s training right before everything, who taught her magic and how to fight with grace. She looked up to Aqua, because she was good at everything and so hopeful.

“Kairi,” Aqua greets, voice just as warm. “It’s nice to see you.”

Kairi leads her around Twilight Town, from the Tram Commons to the forest, to the Sandlot and Market Street, and they take the train to Sunset Terrace. Aqua and Terra view everything with wide eyes, and Kairi’s reminded that their lives were just as contained as hers.

When they get back to Twilight Town proper, Kairi wants to take them up to the clocktower. No one else will be up there at this time, because everyone was going to go see a movie. Terra begs out, and Aqua watches him go with a keen glint in her eyes.

“Is he alright?” Kairi asks as they stand in line to buy sea salt ice cream from the triplets. Lea got her hooked on the flavor, and Aqua had never tried it.

“Hm, Terra? He’s fine.” She sighs, twists her hands. “It’s just a lot for him, to be able to walk freely. He believes he has something to repent for, no matter what we say or do.”

Kairi can relate, thinking of Riku and his guilt that stretches across the universe. It’s gotten even heavier now, as he searches for Sora. Her own guilt isn’t a light burden, either.

“He’ll realize,” she says after they pay. “I don’t think anyone can stand up against you when it comes down to it, his guilt included.”

Aqua laughs. “Thanks, Kairi.”

When they get to the clocktower, silence has settled over them, but Kairi finds herself searching for answers to questions she’s locked away. She bites into the ice cream, the cold stinging her teeth, but it doesn’t keep the questions from burning away at her.

“What is it?” Aqua breaks the quiet, looking over. She has one brow cocked, a curious smile on her face, and it makes something in Kairi relax.

“Is it… is it okay to like girls?” she asks. It’s been eating away at her for weeks. “Like, I _know_ it’s okay but… is it okay for me?” She can’t find the words for what she wants to know and she frowns. She knows the answer she wants, but she knows the answer the universe wants to tell her, and it hurts.

Aqua places her hand on top of Kairi’s. Her hand is cold, and her palms callused. “It’s alright, Kairi, I understand.” She looks away at the horizon, something cloudy in her gaze. “I’m certain you’ve heard about the importance of keeping the world order, yes? Well, when I first set out on my journey, I met a beautiful princess named Cinderella, one of the first princesses of light. She was so kind and nice, to me and Ven and Terra, and I found myself wondering what would happen if we didn’t have to worry about world order.

“She had her role to play in her story and I had my other duties. Nothing that I had to do told me that it wasn’t allowed, just that it was never the right time. I imagined, when I was waiting, that when I found Terra and Ven, I would go back. I knew she had her prince, even helped them reunite, but I still held out hope.”

“Have you gone back yet?” Kairi asks, voice hushed. Ice cream drips down her fingers, and she lets the drops fall down to the ground below.

“I haven’t,” she says. “It’s easier… to not know. I can always have hope that, if things were different, I could’ve had that.”

Kairi nods, and turns her gaze to the sun. They all had their roles to play in a story that was written before they could think, but that doesn’t make her feel any better. She wants to shun the burden of her role, wants to leave behind the pain of being the love interest to the hero, of being the damsel in distress, of being the girl that dies so the hero can grieve. She doesn’t want to have whatever destiny that was written for her.

“What if… I did?” she asks. Aqua blinks at the vague question and frowns.

“Did what, Kairi?”

She laughs, and smiles down at her ice cream. “I’m just thinking out loud.” She licks the ice cream that’s melted onto her hand, smiling at the taste. It never gets old. “I think you should find out. If it would have happened.”

Aqua’s silent, but she smiles as well. It’s soft, and her gaze returns to the horizon. “Maybe I will.”

 

Sora didn’t share the paopu with her. It’s their greatest secret. She would hand him a fruit and she would have her own, but they never ate them. They didn’t really believe in the legend the same way all the elders did, the same way Riku did. It was funny to them, that Riku held so tightly to their beliefs yet he was so eager to leave.

They didn’t need a fruit to connect their hearts; Sora could do it, all on his own. Kairi figured they were part of each other’s lives forever, _KairiSoraRiku_ , never able to separate them or keep one from looking for the others.

She didn’t think it was anything more than a crush, but everyone declared it the power of love. A boy and girl, meant to be. Nevermind that Riku was the one Sora did everything for, the one he cried over, the one who kept him safe at all costs. It was never her role, anyways.

 

“I like you,” she says into the mirror. The words are jumbled from the toothbrush in her mouth. “I like you, Olette.” It’s easy to say the words now, when it’s just Kairi in her bathroom. But she’s already tried, at school and around town. They always get caught in her throat or the boys interrupt them or Olette cuts her off before she can even begin.

She hears quiet laughter and twirls around, toothbrush brandished like a keyblade. No one is there, but the laughter sounded _real_. She gives herself a second to hope, but pushes it away. Her mind just runs away from her sometimes.

Kairi curls up in bed with her phone, and she navigates to messages. Her recent ones are from Olette, the group chat, Pence, and Riku. She looks at their contact pictures, smiling faces, and something aches inside of her.

She misses him. In a way that is visceral and ugly, she misses Sora. She’s tired of tiptoeing around his ghost, tired of pretending that the gaping wound in her heart is closed up. It’s not, it’s not, her heart is back to beating but it doesn’t feel like she’s real.

Some days, she doesn’t think the sacrifice was worth it.

She doesn’t realize she made the call until she hears Olette’s voice, concerned in her ear. “Kairi? Are you okay?” When the only response are sobs, she says with resolve, “I’m coming over.”

The time it takes for Olette to get to her house and crawl through the windows stretches like a millennium. Her cries die down before Olette even pops over the window sill, but her heart still _aches_. The hurt is lessened by Olette’s bedhead, her rumpled pajamas and tired grin, but nothing can fix the tear in her heart.

Olette climbs into her bed, brown eyes searching hers for an answer Kairi does not have. “I’m sorry,” she says, because she knows the pain of missing a friend even though it was never as bad for her. But Kairi won’t ever tell her that, won’t ever give voice to the jealousy that rears its head when she sees them laughing with Roxas. It won’t make her feel any better.

The words make the tears start again, and Olette reaches for her. They end up curled together, Kairi tucked under her arms, legs tangled together. Kairi feels better just by the heartbeat she can hear through Olette’s shirt, by the arms tight around her, by the smell of strawberries.

She thinks about saying the words, now that the girl is actually in front of her, but they get stuck in her throat. It’s for the best, really. She’s not in a good place for it at all.

 

“You look like shit,” Roxas says bluntly.

Kairi gives him a tired smile, dropping into the seat next to him. She usually doesn’t sit there, tucked in the back of the classroom, but the heaviness of her eyelids tell her she’s going to fall asleep mid-lecture. “You really know how to charm a girl,” she teases half-heartedly.

“I’m just being honest,” he mutters, leaning back in his chair. He doesn’t look her in the eyes, and she avoids looking at him. Some days are worse than others.

“Poke me if I fall asleep,” she says, laying her head on the desk. It doesn’t take long for her to drift off, the lack of sleep from the night catching up to her. She was too afraid to dream and wake up, afraid of what— _who_ —might be there.

But she still dreams. The way Sora smiled at her when he found her. He said, “I’m sorry it took so long. I’m sorry you had to wait. I’m sorry this happened to you. I’m sorry.” He took her hand, and said it again, and she was in Destiny Islands.

And she looked over, and he was fading away. His smile was the last thing to go.

She startles awake, and sees Roxas’s concerned face. The furrowed brow, the concern in his eyes. Then she realizes the class is silent and she looks around, at her classmates who are blatantly staring at her.

“Miss Hikari, are you alright?” the teacher asks.

Kairi sits up straight, and swallows. Everyone is still staring at her. “May I go to the nurse?” She doesn’t wait for an answer as she grabs her stuff, and the teacher lets her go.

In the hallway, she walks until she finds the alcove by the stairwell and squeezes into it. Her breathing is too quick, she knows, too light and too fast. It’s hard to break herself out of it and she stares at her knees, trying to get it under control. Her hands curl around her jacket sleeves, but it doesn’t help. Nothing seems to _help_.

“It’s okay, Kairi,” someone says, and she looks up to see Roxas. He sits in front of her, hands held tight around his own knees. “It’s okay,” he repeats.

What’s left of her composure breaks, and she starts crying in earnest. “I just miss him so much,” she chokes out through sobs.

“Yeah,” Roxas replies, and he finally reaches a hand out to her shoulder. “He’s gonna be back,” he says, resolute. Like there’s no other option.

When she looks up, he’s crying too, silent, tear tracks running down his cheeks. She thinks about what a pair they must be, two kids curled up under the stairwell and crying over their best friend. The thought makes her laugh, and he gives her a watery smile.

They don’t leave until the bell rings.

 

Kairi believes he’ll be back. It’s all she can do, putting her whole heart into it. As long as she believes, and Riku, and Roxas, and all the friends they've made throughout the worlds, he’ll be back. They’ll never give up on him.

 

“I like you.”

The ice cream drops from Kairi’s suddenly-lax fingers as she can only gape at Olette, who’s blushing bright red.

“What?” she asks, just to be sure.

Olette only huffs out a laugh, smiling gently. “I said I like you. Like, like-like you.”

“That was a lot of ‘likes,’” Kairi mumbles as her brain processes. Olette doesn’t look too annoyed, with that same gentle smile on her face as she waits. “But I–I like you too.”

The smile she gets is _blinding_. “Great!” Olette chirps, ducking in and pressing a kiss to Kairi’s cheek. She’s still beet-red, but Kairi knows she is as well. “I was really hoping that I hadn’t been seeing it wrong.”

“You weren’t,” Kairi says, grabbing Olette’s hand. It’s smaller than hers and less calloused. It feels nice in her own.

“Good,” Olette says again.

This time when she leans in, Kairi is ready to meet her. She tilts her head up and they’re _kissing_ . It feels like everything the two-munny novels say, but _better_. Her stomach is swooping as Olette’s hand comes up to cup her face, and Kairi keeps a tight grip on her hand. They kiss for what feels like hours, happy to exist with each other, happy to be with each other.

Finally, they pull apart, and Olette leans her head against Kairi’s. “I’ve wanted to do that for so long,” she says, sighing.

“Why’d you wait, then,” Kairi asks, grinning.

Olette turns serious, and she squeezes Kairi’s hand. “I didn’t think you had enough time, but you’ve been doing so good lately that I thought it was time.”

Kairi thinks about how the last few weeks have been, how she hasn’t had to call someone in the middle of the night crying, how she hasn’t flinched at Roxas in a long time. She _has_ been doing better, even if the hurt is still there. It’s been healing over, she’s been healing.

“Was I wrong?” Olette asks, quiet.

It’s Kairi’s turn to cup her face. “You weren’t,” she says again, smiling sweetly, and leans in.

 

She doesn’t have to tell Riku. He calls her one afternoon, and he can see it in her face.

“I’m so happy for you,” he says, a smile on his face that actually reaches his eyes. She doesn’t remember the last time she’d seen him so happy. She wishes he was like this more often.

“Thank you,” she says, grinning.

The secret of Kairi and Sora and Riku is that they always knew how the lines were connected. Kairi knew it from the moment she kissed Selphie in the shack, and Riku knew it from the moment he met Sora. It was never going to be boy-and-girl, the great love that saves the universe. She wanted more agency than that, and Sora would never push that on her.

But their predetermined fates never considered that.

When Riku’s smile fades, she knows what he’s thinking about. “You’ll find him,” she says, voice hushed. “I feel it. He’s closer than ever.” Because though the princesses of light have changed, she still knows where that special light is. She’s felt it coming back slowly, filling her heart with more hope than she dared have before. “You’ll bring him back.”

He smiles again, filled with determination. “Yeah, you’re right. He’s coming.”

Kairi smiles at him, matching his resolution, and asks him about the worlds he’s travelled to recently, the leads he’s found. She wants to know everything, even if she can’t help. But she likes Twilight Town, the life she’s made for herself in its eternal sunset. She loves it here, even if it wasn’t her first choice.

 

It comes easily, when she doesn’t have to think about it. When she practices forms in the forest, her body remembering the moves even when her heart refuses. When a keyblade materializes in her hand, she isn’t surprised that it’s not Destiny’s Embrace, her first one.

The hilt is a dark periwinkle that goes to pink to orange to golden yellow at the tip, where a sun rests between two clouds spreading out like wings. She tests its weight in her hand, and it feels lighter than her other one, but just as strong.

Tomorrow’s Sunrise. The name comes to her easily, and Kairi laughs in the quiet of the forest.

 

Twilight Town’s sun goes through a weird path throughout the day. In the early morning, it’s rising over buildings from the north, scaring away the blue of the night. Midday it peaks over the buildings, the sky a light blue that Kairi is more used to. By the time she calls sunset, it’s back to falling behind the buildings. And at night, only a sliver is visible, the sky a dark blue yet everything still lit.

At night, Olette looks especially more golden. She’s dragging Kairi through the woods, the already-sparse light creating heavy shadows on the ground. But she’s not worried, not with Olette’s soft hand in her own.

They come out in front of the old mansion, and she gasps at the items spread out on the ground. It’s a small picnic, but a projector is set up,  facing towards a portion on the wall with a white sheet on it.

“What’s this all about?” she asks, squeezing Olette’s hand.

“I wanted to take you on a date, one where the boys won’t suddenly join us because they’re out and about,” Olette explains, looking bashful.

Kairi laughs, remembering how Hayner joined them at the movies, how Pence joined them at Sunset Terrace, how Roxas joined them at the Bistro. They have the worst of luck on their dates. “I think it’s perfect. Where’d you get the projector?”

“Pence did help me with that,” she says. Olette sits down, pulling Kairi down with her. She lands a little too close, hips flushed together, and it only makes her blush. “But he was all for it when I explained why I wanted it. Worth compromising our date location, though.”

“It’s great.” Kairi kisses her cheek, and smiles as Olette blushes hard. “What’s to watch?”

Olette presses play, and the movie begins with the villain staring down at a world, and pirates and princes. Kairi is enthralled, never seeing anything like it before. Destiny Islands was behind many worlds with its technology, and she never got the chance to enjoy things like this before.

They eat as the movie plays, triangle-cut sandwiches and tomato quiches, tarte aux fruit and madeleines. At the end of the movie, when Marina surprises Sinbad and kisses him in the sunset, Kairi feels like she’s swallowed the sun. Happiness is bursting in her, from Olette’s shoulder against her own to the sweet taste of fruit, from the movie to the way Olette’s hair glints in the weak sunlight.

“Thank you for this,” she says when the projector stops playing. “This was the best night ever.”

Olette laughs, bright and airy. It makes her feel even lighter. “This was nothing, Kai. I just wanted to have a fun time with you.”

“I did. Have a fun time.” She blushes at the way she stumbled over her words, but Olette justs nudges her, smiling gently. “You’re a great girlfriend, Ollie.”

The way Olette’s jaw drops would have been comical, but the sheer happiness in her face erases that. “You are the cutest!” She enunciates each word clearly, wrapping her arms around Kairi’s waist. She reciprocates, arms easily winding around Olette’s shoulders like they’ve done every time before. “The cutest! How did I get so lucky?”

“Fate, maybe.” Kairi grins, because she knows that’s not it and she doesn’t need it to be. She doesn’t need fate to tell her Olette makes her the happiest she’s ever been, or that their hands fit perfectly, or anything else. Fate has no place in her life.

“Nah,” Olette replies, moving her arms just to cup Kairi’s face. “We chose this all on our own, Kai.” She moves in, her lips soft against Kairi’s. The warmth in her balloons out, and all she can think about is Olette’s lips on her own, Olette’s hands on her face and in her hair.

She grabs one of Olette’s hands and squeezes, trying to convey everything she can’t with her words. Maybe Olette gets it, maybe she doesn’t, but she doesn’t stop kissing Kairi.

 

“Roxas, please?” she asks, using her best pout. She’s holding Tomorrow’s Sunrise in a loose grip, but she’s ready to spar. There’s only so much hacking she can do against a tree before it gets old. And Roxas, he’s her best option.

He keeps his arms crossed, face turned away from her for only a few more seconds before sighing. “Fine! But I’m not gonna go easy on you.” He turns to face her fully, summoning both of his blades. In the golden light, they look more beautiful than deadly.

“Yay!” she cheers, moving into a ready stance. She sees Olette, Hayner and Pence start to pay attention from the sidelines, but she can only focus on Roxas in front of her.

He rushes her immediately, and she barely manages to dodge out of the way, throwing out her blade in an attempt to sweep his legs. He deftly jumps over it, coming to a stop a few feet away from her. Kairi feints towards his left side, and brings her blade down on his right. He blocks it, and she dances away, careful to avoid his second strike.

Roxas presses on, striking at the block. She throws him back, and follows through with a strike, managing to hit the side of his thigh. He grins, teeth white, and he throws his own blade out, hitting her on the side. She retreats a few steps, readjusting her grip before rushing him again.

By the time they collapse in the sandlot, leaning shoulder to shoulder, she’s completely exhausted. It was more of an endurance test for her, because Roxas shares Sora’s same, unmatchable energy. Hayner and Pence are playing a mobile game again, but Olette sends her a soft smile. It makes Kairi’s heart race, in a different way.

“I’m sorry,” she says suddenly, quiet in the still air. His harsh breathing and the other boys’ quiet laughter are the only sounds she can hear. “I’m sorry that I couldn’t keep you separated.”

He sighs heavily, and his shoulders drop. “Thanks. I understand, though.”

“But you don’t _deserve_ it,” she insists. “I let my grief hurt both of us, and you didn’t need that.”

“Yeah, not really,” he admits. “But you needed more time, too. You were the one that—” He cuts himself off sharply, looking down at his lap. She doesn’t mention the tears that brim over his eyelashes or the sobs he swallows down.

She grabs his hand. His fingernails are bit to the quick, and she laughs quietly at it. “I’m sorry,” she repeats. “But I’m glad I got to know you, Roxas.”

He grins at her, squeezing her hand back. “Thanks, Kairi. I’m glad I got to know you too.”

 

Yen Sid and Aqua and Mickey and Terra and Ventus all talk about fate, how everything had been set in motion years before they were alive. Kairi doesn’t believe them, that Xehanort and whoever before him knew what every action would cause.

Fate or destiny or kismet or fortune, those words don’t mean anything to her. Not when she’s defied death, not when she’s holding her girlfriend’s hand, not when she’s looking her dead best friend in the eyes.

 

Riku brings Sora to Twilight Town as soon as he can. They both look on the verge of passing out, but Sora’s endless positivity never runs out. When she sees him, his familiar spiky hair and those blue eyes that shine even in a crowd, she runs, faster than she had in weeks.

Colliding with Sora feels like going home in a new way. His arms wrap around her in a way that’s so familiar it hurts. She clutches his ratty hood, burying her face into his shoulder, not caring about the tears falling on him. He’s sniffling as well, and she feels his tears drip into her shirt.

“I never gave up on you,” she says, muffled by his shirt. “I never thought for a second you were gone.” The words seem like a small justification for the way she never looked for him, for the way she just believed, thinking he would come back just with her inaction.

But like he reads her mind, Sora just laughs and replies, “I know, Kai. You and Riku, you kept me going. I knew I would come back because of you.”

The tears start fresh again and she tries to dig her face into his shoulder even more. After a few moments, she releases one hand to wave blindly with a demanding, “Riku!” Sora laughs wetly, but another pair of arms wrap around them.

“I love you so much,” she says fiercely, gripping on to Sora’s hood and Riku’s arms. “Don’t leave me ever again.”

“Never,” Sora agrees. “The three of us, together again and forever.”

“Forever,” Riku echoes.

She laughs and lets go of her boys. Riku’s arm finds its way around Sora, like always, and Sora has a fond look on his face, like always. Later, they’ll tell her everything, about how they went to Shibuya and bested more impossible odds and death once again, but that can wait.

Right now, she grabs their hands, becoming _KairiSoraRiku_ again. If destiny was ever planned out, this is the one thing she’d choose.

**Author's Note:**

> aqua goes to castle of dreams where cinderella has learned she's a lesbian and the prince is very supportive of her new relationship with the cool girl from ten years ago.
> 
> title from all time low's [good times](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCg_anj5kWc) and my tumblr is [here](https://lgbtriku.tumblr.com/)


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